STORY: Iran, Cuba reaffirm common stance, vow to further boost ties
DATELINE: June 16, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:02
LOCATION: Havana
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the official visit

STORYLINE:

Iran and Cuba have reaffirmed their common stance in the face of challenges and vowed to boost bilateral ties as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi concluded his official visit to Cuba Thursday.
   
"The conditions and circumstances Cuba and Iran are going through have many things in common," Raisi said in meetings with Cuban revolutionary leader Raul Castro as well as Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, referring to U.S. sanctions against both countries.
   
Iran is a friendly nation, with which Cuba feels confident to discuss the most complex global topics, President Diaz-Canel said. "Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Iran are countries that heroically have had to face, with a tenacious resistance, the sanctions, threats, blockades, and interferences of U.S. imperialism and its allies."
   
Raisi, who arrived here Wednesday, visited Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, and attended a business forum aimed at enhancing bilateral commercial bounds as well as a ceremony for the signing of agreements in the field of foreign affairs, customs, telecommunications and law.
   
"His (Raisi's) official visit will continue to enhance bilateral relations, whose 44th anniversary will soon be marked, and to boost links in sectors of mutual interest," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla tweeted.
   
Raisi's visit to Cuba shows the "excellent state of diplomatic relations between Iran and Cuba as well as the will of both governments to increase economic and commercial relations," said Cuba's state media outlet Cubadebate.
   
The two countries established diplomatic relations on August 8, 1979.
   
This was Raisi's first visit to Cuba and the last stop of his Latin American tour including Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Havana.
(XHTV)